Alarm systems, such as fire alarm and security systems, typically include one or more alarm panels that receive information from various sensors that are distributed throughout a monitored structure or area. For example, a typical fire alarm system may include an alarm panel that is installed at a central location within a building. The alarm panel may be operatively connected to a plurality of initiating devices (e.g., smoke detectors, manually-actuated pull stations, etc.) that are distributed throughout respective areas of the building.
During normal operation of the alarm system, the alarm panel may monitor electrical signals associated with each of the respective initiating devices connected thereto for variations that may represent the occurrence of an alarm condition. For example, a variation in a particular electrical signal may represent the detection of smoke by a smoke detector in a corresponding area of the building in which the smoke detector is located, and may cause the alarm panel to enter an alarm mode. The alarm panel may be configured to respond to such a condition by initiating certain predefined actions, such as by activating one or more notification appliances (e.g. strobes, sirens, public announcement systems, etc.) within the building that are associated with the initiating device that detected the alarm condition.
An important step in the commissioning of alarm systems, and fire alarm systems in particular, is verifying that the actuation of each initiating device in a system results in the activation of a particular notification appliance or group of notification appliances in the system. For example, in an alarm system installed in a fifty story office building, it may be expected that the actuation of an initiating device located on the first floor of the building will cause all of the notification appliances located on the first two floors of the building to be activated. The traditional method for verifying such interoperability of initiating devices and notification appliances in alarm systems involves actuating an initiating device (e.g., pulling a pull station) and subsequently visiting each notification appliance that is expected to be activated in order to observe and confirm such activation. This process must be repeated for every initiating device in the alarm system.
While the above-described verification method is relatively simple and straightforward, it is associated with several significant shortcomings. For example, when performing such verification, all of the notification appliances in an alarm system upon which the verification is performed must be fully activated (e.g., horns must be sounded and strobes must be flashed). This can be highly disruptive and bothersome to occupants of a building.
A further shortcoming associated with the traditional verification method is that it requires a technician or other individual who is performing the verification to visit all of the notification appliances in a building after actuating each initiating device, even if a particular initiating device is only thought to be associated with notification appliances located in a limited area of the building. This is because a misplaced or wrongly-addressed notification appliance located anywhere in the building could be unexpectedly activated as a result of actuating an initiating device that is not intended to be associated therewith. Searching for such “stray appliances” can be extremely time-consuming and therefore very expensive.